"The Government Accountability Office (GAO) looked at 21 different Pentagon offices and found that private contractors outnumbered Department of Defense employees in more than half of them. In the engineering department of the Missile Defense Agency, for example, employees from private contractors made up more than 80% of the work force." - Frida Bergman

In this month’s edition, the history of WEL, a new head for the Department of Veterans Affairs, the 2007 federal election enquiry, constitutional reform and indigenous rights, the Senate and accountability, and much, much more…

Analysis of the reporting of electricity privatisation initiatives in New South Wales brings disturbing confirmation that the major Australian newsmedia does not accurately report essential facts on issues of vital concern to us. Indeed, it often acts as a conduit for propaganda against our best interest.

So the jury deliberated, over 21 days, working its way through the evidence, and in the end arriving at a set of verdicts that are, probably, about right. Benbrika, the mastermind, convicted on all charges. Some convicted, some not. Some convicted on some charges and not on others. One they couldn't decide on.

If Fannie and Freddie, between them, had three times the GDP of Australia, what's been lost here? One hundred and thirty Lehman Brothers Australia jobs, for starters. That's nothing, though, compared to the fact that, by the look of the Aussie dollar, we've just lost our cash flow.

”Bugger the canaries,” I thought He said. Quietly looking up from my sudoku, I raised a half-quizzical, half-disinterested eyebrow which I had developed in the days when I started smoking Sobranies and said “You what?”

What I am getting at is the impossibility of establishing democratic conditions by fiat or by force. There needs to be a will towards that end from within the history and culture of the country and the people themselves..

Terrorism also does not appear to be a major factor when it comes to who they vote for as president in the upcoming elections. Only 12% of Americans consider it an important factor when casting their vote.

"The challenges of the 21st Century are qualitatively different from anything that we've had to face up to before...This requires a re-think of priorities in science and technology and a redrawing of our society's inner attitudes ...." - Sir David King, former UK Chief Scientist

Meanwhile, in London,various unidentified government and defence folk are apparently leaking like anonymous sieves to the Tele in order to warn Britons of the suddenly increased likelihood of a "dirty bomb" attack

The Stanhope government seems to think that their tenure and so called experience are the factors that will work in their favor during this campaign. But our shared experience of a lifetime of community values tells us otherwise for their tenure has been an abject disaster.

I'm bloody disappointed. As someone who's campaigned against the conversion of Adelaide for a few years, I'd given up on anything ever happening. Now, when the indoctrinated population is reinforced by national support against what it has been made to become, the focal point for the anger has been removed.

"We should all feel empowered that this is our parliament where the individuals trusted to make decisions on behalf of society will do so in the best interest of the community rather than pandering to big business or corporations. What do I mean by community? I mean the people and the environment in which they live." -Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, in her maiden speech to the Australian Senate.

The games impacted other aspects of daily life too. I moved cities around the time that the games started and was interested to see the differences between the effects on the two cities. In my original city, around early July, almost all the street market stalls were suddenly shut down. This was done to ‘create a culture of hygiene’. It was literally as though someone came during the night and moved them all away, out of sight. Even the large and popular night markets were shut down.

As a follow up to my last piece on the live animal exports issue Animals Australia has given permission for me to publish on Webdiary its record of major incidents in the trade. It is an appalling record. In reading the facts relating to these incidents one can get some idea of the enormous level of suffering of large numbers of animals in this trade.

"My message to the Prime Minister is simple. I want to work constructively with him and his government and the cross-benchers and the opposition, to eradicate this scourge from our suburbs, as well as internet gambling from our lounge rooms."- Senator Nick Xenophon, in his maiden speech to the Australian Senate.

Reading Obama's speech on accepting the Democratic nomination, I am praying for the man to win. He appears to realise that creating global flashpoints, fronts on which to be seen as fighting the problem, is not stopping the global splattering of death and destruction. It's a pity our own Prime Minister was not able to perceive such a fact

The real significance of yesterday's announcement is that for the first time in its history, Fairfax has made a public declaration that profits come ahead of journalism. That its role as a major custodian of Australian quality editorial is secondary to its responsibility of maximising the financial outcome. (Eric Beecher)

For some time the management team has been considering ways of taking Webdiary beyond its traditional function as a forum for the discussion of anything and everything, especially politics. Now Malcolm B Duncan has come up with the idea of a notice board - a Town Crier - and we think it's worth a try. So, over to you – when does the book club next meet?

Keep the passion burning amongst the young people and others who have been energized by your unexpected, unpredicted, against-all-odds candidacy that has ignited and inspired a nation. Make Caroline Kennedy your VP. (Michael Moore)

There is no doubt that for an export-dependent economy with a major stake in fossil fuel production and long history of reliance on cheap energy, pricing carbon is a serious risk. But Australia is not alone in taking this risk and all the other routes look considerably worse. (Henry Derwent)

Acknowledging such realities does not fit with the [Howard] government’s consistent practice of demonising asylum seekers, which now extends to children. If the parents of the Afghan boys have heard of the UN Convention on the rights of the child, they certainly could invoke it in an attempt to be reunited with their children. (Mike Steketee)

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